Wire package



Nov. 11, 1958 o. c MOULDEN Re. 24,560

7 WIRE PACKAGE Original Filed Sept. 21, 1955 v INVENTOR.

0564/? 0. MJaZflE/V ATTCI RNEYS United States Patent Ofitice Re. 24,560Reissued Nov. 11, 1958 24,560 WIRE PACKAGE Oscar 0. Moulden, Duncan,Okla.

Original No. 2,822,992, dated February 11, 1958, Serial No. 535,627,September 21, 1955. Application for reissue May 22, 1958, Serial No.737,178

Claims. (Cl. 242-1371) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets 1 appears inthe original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification;rnatter printed in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

This invention relates to packaging materials and particularly materialssuch as insulated wire which is supplied, used, and sold from coils insubstantially square cardboard or corrugated paper boxes, the sides ofwhich are provided with circular openings through which the wire isremoved; and in particular a rectangular shaped box having a circularopening in one side and also having openings in corners, and a spoolfreely positioned in and rotatable in said box and having fingerreceiving openings in the sides whereby wire, cables and cords,including building wire, romex cable, rubber cords, telephone wire andcables, bell wire, annunciation wire, magnet wire and automotive wiresand cables are adapted to be readily drawn from the box without kinkingand wherein the spool is adapted to be rotated to rewind unused wire.

The purpose of this invention is to provide means for withdrawing wireand the like from paper boxes without kinking or otherwise twisting ordamaging the wire.

Insulated wire such as used for electric lights, automatic controls,telephone circuits and electrical instruments and appliances and thelike is supplied in square boxes with openings in the sides and the wireis drawn from the openings. Drawing wire from a coil in which the wireis freely positioned causes the wire to kink with substantially eachcoil and when drawing wire from such a box so that the wire may be fedthrough a conduit or the like it is substantially essential that one manforce the wire through the conduit as another prevents kinkage of thewire as it leaves the box and this results in considerable waste of timeand also additional help. With this thought in mind this inventioncontemplates winding the wire of packages of this type on a spool freelypositioned in the package whereby upon drawing wire from the package thespool rotates feeding a continuous strand of wire from the package.

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide means forpackaging wire and the like whereby one man may draw wire from a packageand feed it through a conduit without danger of the wire kinking orbecoming tangled.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved package forinsulated wire and the like in which means is provided for rewindingunused wire in the package.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved package forinsulated wire and other similar materials in which the wire iscontained on a spool freely positioned in a box in which the package isof a simple and economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the inventionembodies a substantially square box having circular openings in thesides and also openings in and adjacent the corners, and a spool havinga drum mounted between flanges with tangs struck from the flanges andsecured to the drum and in which openings from which the tangs arestruck are provided in the portions of the flanges positioned within thedrum of the spool whereby with the openings in registered relation withthe circular opening of the side of the box the thumb and fingers of ahand may be inserted therein for rotating the spool to rewind wirethereon.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from thefollowing description taken in connection with the drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a front elevational view of the improved wire package withpart of the lower corners broken away showing the construction thereof.

Figure 2 is an end elevational view looking toward one end of thepackage taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end elevational view looking toward the opposite side ofthe package taken on line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a sectional plan through the package taken on line 4-4 ofFigure 1.

Figure 5 is an end elevational view of the spool used in the package,the upper part of the spool being broken away and remaining partsthereof being shown in sections.

Figure 6 is an exploded view showing the drum of the spool with partsbroken away also showing one of the flanges adapted to be secured to theend of the drum.

Figure 7 is a perspective view showing the box with a circular openingin one side.

Figure 8 is a front elevational view showing a pair of the boxespositioned on a rack.

Figure 9 is a cross section of the rack shown in Figure 8 taken on line99 thereof.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference characters denotecorresponding parts the improved wire package of this invention includesa spool having a cylindrical drum 10 with flanges 11 and 12 at the endsand a housing in the form of a box including a base 13, side walls 14and 15, end walls 16 and 17 and an upper panel 18 and, as shown inFigure 1, the side wall or front is provided with a circular opening 19through which the intermediate part of the spool is exposed.

The flanges 11 and 12 are secured to the cylindrical portion or drum ofthe spool With tangs 20 and 21 which are struck from openings 22 in theflanges 11 and 12 and the tangs are secured to the drum 10 by staples 23or with suitable fastening means.

The ,end wall 17 of the box is provided with an outlet opening 24through which wire, as indicated by the numeral 25, may be drawn fromthe spool, as illustrated in Figure 1. The upper portion of the end wall17 is also provided with score lines 26 to facilitate providing anopening in the upper part thereof and score lines for similar openings,as indicated by the numerals 27 and 28 are provided in the end wall 16at the opposite side of the package.

The side walls 14 and 15 of the box are also provided with alignedopenings 29, 30, 31, and 32 in the corners through which bars, such asthe bars 33 of a rack, such as a rack illustrated in Figures 8 and 9,may be placed so that a plurality of the boxes with spools of wiretherein may be suspended on a rack and wire drawn from openings, such asthe opening 24 therein as the wire is used from the box.

In the design shown, the bars 33 are mounted in uprights or hangers 34and 35 and it will be understood that the hangers or other supportingelements may be of any suitable type or design and may be spacedaccording to the number of boxes desired to be used thereon and that asmany of the boxes may be usedon the rack as desired.

One, or a plurality of boxes, may be used on a counter with eachcontaining a difierent type of wire or one or a plurality of the boxesmay becarried from place toplace as wire is used therefrom.

As more wire is drawn from the box than is desired the wire maybereplacedxby-placing'the fingers of-a hand in the openings22 of thespooland rotating the spool to rewind. thewire- Alsoas illustrated inthe drawing the boxes are formed with end flaps- 36 and 37 at thettop;38 and 39 at the bottom, and flaps, such as the flaps 40:' -mayextendinwardly from the end walls inside of the flaps 37 and 38, asshown in Figure 1. Boxes of any' suitable material may be used and theboxesmay be formed in any manner desired.

With boxes positionedasillustr'ated and described the spool-is freelymounted in a box so that upon drawing a strand of wire, such as thewirefrom the box the spool rotates unwinding the wire andall possibility ofkinking the wire is substantially eliminated.-

Making it possible to rewind unused wire in a package eliminatesenormous waste as wire extended from the box is subjected to light andparticularly the rays of the sun, whereby colored cords fade orbecome-discolored and rubber of the insulation deteriorates.

With the improved package of this invention the unused lengths of wireare retrieved so that theymay be retained in the dark and away fromlight and sun rays.

The size, weight and: grade of paper used in making these boxes shallconform to Uniform'Fr'eight Classification.

The size will depend on size, length and insulation of the manufacturerof wire as all wires are not covered with the same insulation, and cordsand cables include one or a plurality of conductors.

Use of this type box'and reel will enable workmenon jobs to save atremendous amount of time and labor-.-

The improved box willprevent tangled and twisted wire which results indamaged insulation, and lost--time.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that therev will be an inherentbraking function in the spool of the disclosure package. The weight ofthe spool-and the frictional engagement betwe'en'the spool and theinside walls of the enclosing box will provide a braking drag on thespool as the wire is being unwound therefrom. This self-brakingvfunctionxwill prevent the wire from becoming kinked or tangled and will"preventthe spool from overspinning as the wire is being unwoundtherefrom.

It will be understood that other modifications, within the scope of theappended claims, may be made in the design and arrangement of the partswithout departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A [wire] package for wire or other elongated flexible materialcomprising a [square paper] box having a base with upwardly extendedside and end walls-and having a circular opening in one of said sideWalls and openings in the [endlside walls and positioned at the cornersof the box, and a [paper] spool having a drum with flanges at the endsfreely mounted in said box and having finger receiving openingspositioned in registered relation with the circular opening in the sideof the box whereby the fingers of a hand may be inserted through thecircular opening in the side Wall of the box for rotating the spool.

2. A [wire] package for wire or other elongated flexible materialcomprising a [square paper] box having a base with upwardly extendedside and end walls and having a circular opening in one of said sidewalls and openings inthe [endIside walls and positioned at the cornersof the box, and a-[paper] spool having'a drumwith flanges at the endsfreely mounted in said box and having finger receiving openingspositioned in registered relation with the circular opening in the sideof the box whereby the fingers of a hand may be inserted through thecircular openingv in the side wall of the box for rotating the-spool;the. material struck from the finger receiving openings of the flangesof the spool being secured to the drum for-mounting the flanges on thedrum.

3. A [wire] package for wire or other elongated flexiblematerial'comprising a [square paper] boxhaving a base with upwardlyextended side and end walls and having a circular opening in'one of saidside walls and transverse and longitudinally disposed openings .in-the[end] side walls and positioned at the cornersv of the box, and a[paperlspool having a drum with flanges at the ends freely mounted insaid box and. having finger receiving openings positioned in registeredrelation with the circular opening in the side of the box whereby thefingers .of a hand may be inserted 'through the circular opening in. theside wall of the box for rotating the spO0l, the material struck fromthe finger receiving openings of the flanges of the spool being securedto the drum for In'ounting.the flanges on the drum.

4; In a [wire] container for wire or other elongated flexiblemateriahthe combination which comprises a box having'a base withupwardly extended side and end walls and having a circular opening inoneof said side in the corners, and scored sections for providing atleast one outlet [openings] opening in one of said [the] end walls and aspool having a drum with flanges on the ends freely positioned in saidcontainer, the flanges of the spool being secured to the drum by tangsstruck from the flanges and [stapled] secured to the drum, and theopenings from which the tangs are struck providing thumb and fingerreceiving openings to facilitate manually rotating the spool.

5. A combination package and spool for wire or other elongated flexiblematerial comprising; a sealed box having a pair of spaced side walls,said side walls being connected by two end walls, a base, and a top,tojform a closed box, a large access opening in at least one of, saidside walls, an outlet opening for the flexible material in one of thewalls connecting said side walls, a double flanged spool freely mountedand rotatable in said box, and finger receiving openings in at least oneflanged end of the spool adapted for manual engagement, said fingerreceiving openings positioned adjacent and in registered relation withthe large access opening in the. side of the box whereby the fingerreceiving openingsmay be manually engaged through the access opening inthe side wall of the box for rotating the spool to wind or rewind thematerial thereon.

ReferencesCited in the file of this patent or the original patent1,076,635 Howard Oct. 21, 1913 1,112,062 Gardner Sept. 29, 19141,154,212 Schloss et a1. Sept. 21, 1915 1,431,352 Abbott Oct. 10, 19221,947,351 Macklanburg. Feb. 13, 1934 2,048,307 Weber July 21, 19362,201,305 Springer May 21, 1940 2,554,615 Dahle May 29, 1951 FOREIGNPATENTS 998,828 France Sept. 26, 1951.

